Another chapter! Yay!

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Chapter 7

It had been a month since the night they first met and almost two weeks since he'd seen her face. But at least Happy had heard Sarah's voice on the phone every single night since the morning he last rode away from her…

"So how was your Thanksgiving?"

Happy almost said it was fine, just like he'd told everyone all day at Gemma's, but then he remembered…he was talking to Sarah.

Hap closed his eyes and sighed. "It was…weird, I guess. I mean, everyone was great, but…" He swallowed the lump in his throat and shook his head. "Every time someone touched my shoulder, or whenever I smelled the turkey, I would look up and, just for a split second, I'd expect Mom to be standing there."

Sarah's voice was soft on the other end of the line. "What was Thanksgiving with your mom like?"

Hap almost grinned. "It was always just the two of us, but she didn't care. She always made enough food to feed twenty people." His smile widened as he continued, lost in the memories. "She got her citizenship when I was a kid, and was so proud of being an American, that she felt it was her fucking civic duty or something to make every single traditional food for the holidays. So we always had a turkey and mashed potatoes, green beans, gravy; all that shit. But Mom knew I liked the Cuban food she always made better, so then she also made roast pork, and empanadas, and black beans and rice. And for dessert it was always rice pudding. It's my favorite."

Sarah laughed. "Seriously? All that for two people?"

Hap chuckled. "Most of it went in the freezer. I think we ate the same shit every night until Christmas."

"It must have been so much work though. For her to do all that herself?"

Hap nodded. "It was. But that didn't matter to her." Then he tightened his jaw and blinked his eyes, fighting for a rein on all the emotions he'd hidden so well for so long. "She knew I loved it, that it made me happy. Everything she ever did was to make me happy."

A few moments passed before Sarah spoke again. "I wish I could have been there with you today."

A rush of warmth filled his chest, because he knew in his heart that she meant it.

"So do I."

It had been three weeks, three annoying weeks, since Benny had taken her to some greasy diner for breakfast the morning after their date, before going back to Charming. But as much as Sarah hated being away from him, she loved the sound of his voice as it echoed in her ear every night before bed…

Sarah snuggled into the corner of the couch a little deeper, covered up with her blanket, and blew softly into her steaming cup of chamomile tea. "So tell me about the motorcycle club."

Benny was always so open with her whenever she asked him about anything. But for some reason he hardly ever talked about the group he rides with.

So it surprised her a little when he hesitantly answered, "What do you want to know?"

Sarah shrugged. "I don't know…What do you guys do exactly?"

A few seconds of silence passed before he spoke. "We all have Harleys and we all work together. So we ride together too."

"Where do you ride?"

"Everywhere. Most of us don't have cages…cars…so we ride all the time."

"Do you guys ever take, like, long trips together?"

"Yeah. We'll go on poker runs, charity runs, that kind of thing. Every couple months we go to Canada, or Oregon, or Arizona. Shit like that."

Sarah grinned. "Well, tell me about your friends. What are they like?"

Benny paused before speaking, a little more quietly than before. "They're more than friends. Those guys…everyone of them. They're my family. They're my brothers. I'd do anything for them."

Sarah was a little in awe, because she didn't just hear loyalty in the way he described those men. She heard devotion, complete and total devotion. "That's really beautiful, you know? That you have that. I think it's really rare to find that kind of friendship, to make that kind of bond. I envy you actually."

Benny stayed quiet as she took another sip of her tea. "So who's your best friend in the club?"

She swore she could hear Benny's smirk over the phone. "My best friend? Really? Are you in second grade?"

Sarah grinned at the playfulness in his voice. "Oh, shut up." She waited for him to stop chuckling before she continued. "I know you have one, so tell me about him. I want to know who you're closest to."

She could somehow tell he was still smiling. "His name's Kozik. We've been friends for years, since I lived in Tacoma. And you're never gonna meet him."

"Why?"

"Because he's a blond pretty boy who loves beautiful women, at least for a couple of hours at a time anyway. And if I let him around you, I'm gonna end up punching him in the face."

Sarah just laughed. "He sounds fun. I should introduce him to my sister. Rachel's gorgeous and can love em' and leave em' with the best of them. Kozik sounds like just her type of guy."

Then Benny's voice got a little lower. "So who's your type of guy, Sarah?"

As she pictured the lips that formed those words, the same lips that consumed her on her front porch not so long ago, she couldn't deny the heat that spread through her body like a slow burning flame.

"I think you know."

Today had been a fucking mess. Happy tried to calm the beating of his heart and the rage that still boiled through his blood, but nothing was helping. First there was a run in with some young asshole Mayans that ended up in a brawl. Then there was the car chase and firefight with the Aryan Brotherhood that ended up with Bobby needing stitches and Hap and Tig burying bodies out in Chigger Woods. And combining all that with Clay and Jax going at each other at church, the table all but divided, meant that Hap hadn't had one moment's fucking peace.

But unlike the other guys, Happy rarely let his frustration show. He kept it locked away and caged in, like a dangerous predator, until he could find an outlet for its escape that didn't show his hand. That's why, after days like today, he always ended up fighting and fucking.

First he went to the ring and went a couple of rounds with a hang-around looking to prove himself. But when the kid hit the mat and the fight was called, the edge hadn't even been taken off and he was nothing short of restless. So on instinct, when there was no one left to spar with, he found himself glancing around the clubhouse for Brittany, the blonde croweater he usually went to on nights when he wanted to get laid and wanted it rough.

But as soon as she made eye contact with him, Happy looked away. Because he just didn't want her. She was standing there, half naked, breasts spilling out of her corset top, biting her lip and practically begging for him. But he didn't want her. Not even a little.

He hadn't wanted anyone else for an entire month, since he looked up at Sarah that night and realized he was in love with her.

So with long, quick strides, he walked past Brittany and every other croweater and sweetbutt trying to catch his attention, going straight to his dorm. And when he got there he locked the door, peeled off his t-shirt, and unlaced his boots. Then he sat on the side of the bed and took a breath before dialing her number.

It only rang twice before she answered. "Hey, you."

And there it was. Just like that. The calm that he had been searching for. It hit him suddenly, like a wave, but instead of churning the blood in his veins, it made him still. All he needed were two words. All he needed was her voice.

Finally grounded, he took another deep breath, the beat of his heart slowing to an easy rhythm. "Hey, Sarah."

It was already dark by the time Sarah pulled into her driveway. She had worked a couple of hours later than usual, and then she'd went to the gym for the first time in ages. She hated working out, but she worried that if she didn't do something to burn off the energy coursing through her body, it would eat her alive.

It was getting harder and harder to talk to Benny every night, to hear the deep cadence of his voice and picture him lying on his bed. Especially after last night, when she could somehow hear the need in his voice every single time he said her name…

Sarah blew out a breath and rolled her eyes as she took the keys from the ignition and climbed out of the car. The need in his voice? Get over yourself, Sarah. It's your own need that you can't hide anymore.

Over the last month, the images of Benny's tanned skin, gorgeous eyes, and toned muscles had gotten her off more times than she was proud of. But it was so much more than that. It wasn't just his touch that she craved almost constantly. It was just him. She wanted to see his face. She wanted to feel his skin. She wanted to be reminded that the guy she'd fallen so hard for was real, and not just a voice hundreds of miles away.

But she knew Benny was busy with work and his motorcycle club, so Sarah accepted that his voice was all she would get for a while.

And that was better than nothing. So Sarah walked up her front steps and reached into her purse, pulling out her phone before she'd even bothered to unlock her door.

But just seconds after dialing his number and expecting to hear the generic ringing she was used to, Sarah gasped when a different ringtone started sounding behind her.

Sarah whirled around and she couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was Benny, standing on her sidewalk just a few feet away.

He never took his eyes from hers as he walked straight from the sidewalk, through her grass and over her flower beds, climbing her steps two at a time until he was standing directly in front of her.

"Benny…"

She tried to smile but didn't have time to before his lips crashed down onto hers. And then he was everywhere; one large hand woven into her hair, another gripping her thigh, his hips pressed hard against her belly, his tongue making deep, slow contact with her own. His skin, his heat, his scent were all over her, and she was capable of nothing but fisting the cotton of his shirt in her hands and hoping like hell that he wouldn't stop.

She had no idea how much time had passed before Benny abruptly pulled away, just far enough to rest his forehead against her shoulder. He was still holding her close, panting, and the feel of his breath on her neck made her weak.

Sarah tried to catch her breath before speaking, but she couldn't mask the tremble in her voice. "I thought you wanted to take things slow."

Benny trailed a line of kisses against the side her neck, from the base of her shoulder to the bottom of her jaw. Then he held her even closer before whispering against her ear.

"Not anymore."

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